Madison Condon
@madisoncondon.bsky.social
climate risk, corporations, use & abuse of science & econ in the administrative state
papers: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1654671
papers: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1654671
Pinned
Madison Condon
@madisoncondon.bsky.social
· Dec 12
Up now on ssrn: a sort of odd piece I wrote about the history and future of scenario analysis as a corporate governance tool for a symposium on "The Corporation at the Intersection of Law and Information." Forthcoming soon in the Seattle Law Review!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
External to what?
Today, @madisoncondon.bsky.social makes the case that we should stop thinking of climate change as an externality.
The latest in our series on @alybatt.bsky.social's *Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature.*
The latest in our series on @alybatt.bsky.social's *Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature.*
Is Climate Change an Externality?
Environmental harms are often cast as externalities, even by those seeking to emphasize their urgency. Yet the major modern environmental statutes, written before America'
lpeproject.org
December 1, 2025 at 6:06 PM
External to what?
as a law professor, my job is to explain hydrology to economists
December 1, 2025 at 3:10 PM
as a law professor, my job is to explain hydrology to economists
lol "stop defunding yourself" i say to the republican climate scientist
that Demsas piece about GOP affirmative action is exactly as bad as you'd think. this is Chait-level shit. this is Conor Friedersdorf quality.
September 17, 2025 at 12:16 AM
lol "stop defunding yourself" i say to the republican climate scientist
Reposted by Madison Condon
This helps explain why the oil-and-gas industry is needing to "run fast to stay still", spending $500bn a year just to maintain current output
Production rates from each field are declining increasingly rapidly
3/6
Production rates from each field are declining increasingly rapidly
3/6
September 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
This helps explain why the oil-and-gas industry is needing to "run fast to stay still", spending $500bn a year just to maintain current output
Production rates from each field are declining increasingly rapidly
3/6
Production rates from each field are declining increasingly rapidly
3/6
Reposted by Madison Condon
Relatedly, a failure to remember lessons we already learned from similar moments of concentrated power.
Hale wrote about law as a mechanism that distributes power back in 1923; but subsequent methods in social science and law like to forget!!
Hale wrote about law as a mechanism that distributes power back in 1923; but subsequent methods in social science and law like to forget!!
September 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Relatedly, a failure to remember lessons we already learned from similar moments of concentrated power.
Hale wrote about law as a mechanism that distributes power back in 1923; but subsequent methods in social science and law like to forget!!
Hale wrote about law as a mechanism that distributes power back in 1923; but subsequent methods in social science and law like to forget!!
Reposted by Madison Condon
In a little-noticed announcement last week, SEC said it would consider ways for companies to limit risk of shareholder lawsuits.
Days later, Trump called for SEC to drop rules that have been in place for decades that require most public US companies to disclose their financials quarterly
Days later, Trump called for SEC to drop rules that have been in place for decades that require most public US companies to disclose their financials quarterly
Donald Trump tilts balance of power from investors to CEOs
President’s call to scrap quarterly reports comes as SEC considers curbing shareholder lawsuits
on.ft.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:02 AM
In a little-noticed announcement last week, SEC said it would consider ways for companies to limit risk of shareholder lawsuits.
Days later, Trump called for SEC to drop rules that have been in place for decades that require most public US companies to disclose their financials quarterly
Days later, Trump called for SEC to drop rules that have been in place for decades that require most public US companies to disclose their financials quarterly
has trump been reading Lynn Stout
tfw the president of the united states of america breaks capitalism while you’re commuting to work in the morning
September 15, 2025 at 9:38 PM
has trump been reading Lynn Stout
Second session of Law & Capitalism today: "What Is (Was) Neoliberalism?"
reading LPE 👇
& www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
& some E. Popp Berman :)
reading LPE 👇
& www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
& some E. Popp Berman :)
Building a Law-and-Political-Economy Framework: Beyond the Twentieth-Century Synthesis
Current crises of economic inequality and eroding democracy require us to move beyond legal orientations that prioritize efficiency, neutrality, and apolitical governance. This Feature suggests new or...
www.yalelawjournal.org
September 15, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Second session of Law & Capitalism today: "What Is (Was) Neoliberalism?"
reading LPE 👇
& www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
& some E. Popp Berman :)
reading LPE 👇
& www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
& some E. Popp Berman :)
Reposted by Madison Condon
BlackRock? The communist ESG firm?
September 12, 2025 at 9:36 PM
BlackRock? The communist ESG firm?
currently have two docs open... one on coase and pigou and the other on what's the matter with abundance... do i.... *combine them*??????
Learning a bit more about Pigou, and at first blush, it seems if he was alive today, he'd tear Abundance theory to shreds. I have to imagine someone has already written this up.
September 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
currently have two docs open... one on coase and pigou and the other on what's the matter with abundance... do i.... *combine them*??????
the environmental law prof reply all-debate about what exactly we are supposed to be teaching continues
“With this move, they’re taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking”
E.P.A. To Stop Collecting Emissions Data From Polluters
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
the environmental law prof reply all-debate about what exactly we are supposed to be teaching continues
Reposted by Madison Condon
“With this move, they’re taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking”
E.P.A. To Stop Collecting Emissions Data From Polluters
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:14 PM
“With this move, they’re taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking”
i really hate it here
These people are sadistic. "'The real existential threat right now is not a degree of climate change,' Burgum said. 'It’s the fact that we could lose the AI arms race if we don’t have enough power.'” www.eenews.net/articles/bur...
Burgum: Losing AI race is more dangerous than climate change
The Interior secretary indicated that 1 degree of climate change was an acceptable consequence of ramping up fossil fuels for data centers.
www.eenews.net
September 12, 2025 at 11:40 AM
i really hate it here
Reposted by Madison Condon
Carney wants to fast-track Shell's LNG expansion in British Columbia, maybe even offer incentives
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Shell LNG Plant Wins Place on Carney’s List of Favored Projects
Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to speed construction of a major expansion of LNG Canada, a large-scale liquefied natural gas export project on Canada’s west coast.
www.bloomberg.com
September 11, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Carney wants to fast-track Shell's LNG expansion in British Columbia, maybe even offer incentives
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Madison Condon
We finally FINALLY finished the big insurance piece. There's a LOT that is not in there. But I think we've got a few of the important bits.
TL;DR insurance is extremely interesting, but it's neither the climate problem nor the solution.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...
TL;DR insurance is extremely interesting, but it's neither the climate problem nor the solution.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...
Insurance in the Polycrisis | Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay
The future is triage on an uninsurable earth.
www.phenomenalworld.org
September 11, 2025 at 1:51 AM
We finally FINALLY finished the big insurance piece. There's a LOT that is not in there. But I think we've got a few of the important bits.
TL;DR insurance is extremely interesting, but it's neither the climate problem nor the solution.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...
TL;DR insurance is extremely interesting, but it's neither the climate problem nor the solution.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...
Reposted by Madison Condon
Reposted by Madison Condon
New paper in JEEM on Risk Rating 2.0 authored by Ortega and Petkov:
“While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
“While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
To improve is to change: The effects of risk rating 2.0 on flood insurance demand
We present a model of the demand for flood insurance, construct individual insurance histories for the universe of policyholders, and empirically anal…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:41 PM
New paper in JEEM on Risk Rating 2.0 authored by Ortega and Petkov:
“While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
“While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
we're bringing a semi useful language model to a global energy fight
September 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
we're bringing a semi useful language model to a global energy fight
Reposted by Madison Condon
80% of all Chinese clean investment in global markets happened in the last 4 years
Meanwhile, we’re busy decimating our industry at home and abroad
Game. Set. Match
Meanwhile, we’re busy decimating our industry at home and abroad
Game. Set. Match
September 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
80% of all Chinese clean investment in global markets happened in the last 4 years
Meanwhile, we’re busy decimating our industry at home and abroad
Game. Set. Match
Meanwhile, we’re busy decimating our industry at home and abroad
Game. Set. Match
Reposted by Madison Condon
NEW | China’s clean energy boom and rapid electrification are creating the conditions for a FOSSIL DECLINE at home and abroad⚡
Fossil use in end-use sectors plateaued in 2015--while electricity use grew 65%, becoming central to 🇨🇳’s energy system.
https://loom.ly/psjqvhE
Fossil use in end-use sectors plateaued in 2015--while electricity use grew 65%, becoming central to 🇨🇳’s energy system.
https://loom.ly/psjqvhE
September 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM
NEW | China’s clean energy boom and rapid electrification are creating the conditions for a FOSSIL DECLINE at home and abroad⚡
Fossil use in end-use sectors plateaued in 2015--while electricity use grew 65%, becoming central to 🇨🇳’s energy system.
https://loom.ly/psjqvhE
Fossil use in end-use sectors plateaued in 2015--while electricity use grew 65%, becoming central to 🇨🇳’s energy system.
https://loom.ly/psjqvhE
when i first joined bluesky my timeline was 50% geologists arguing about their favorite minerals and now its 90% incredibly depressing news about the deterioration of our society and 10% geologists arguing about their favorite minerals
September 9, 2025 at 12:05 PM
when i first joined bluesky my timeline was 50% geologists arguing about their favorite minerals and now its 90% incredibly depressing news about the deterioration of our society and 10% geologists arguing about their favorite minerals
Reposted by Madison Condon
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
very weird to have developed a scholarly expertise in these century long battles between the left and right over economic policy and now to get in front of my students and be like... but that doesn't really matter anymore
B of A’s mention on Friday of Trump’s “price controls” makes some wires.
(Welcome back, 1970s.)
@mikezaccardi.bsky.social
(Welcome back, 1970s.)
@mikezaccardi.bsky.social
September 8, 2025 at 12:27 PM
very weird to have developed a scholarly expertise in these century long battles between the left and right over economic policy and now to get in front of my students and be like... but that doesn't really matter anymore
Reposted by Madison Condon
2. the strange but often repeated cultish mantra that we need to "embrace the future" — this is so bizarre given, e.g. how destructive industry forces have proven to be in science, from petroleum to tobacco to pharmaceutical companies.
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
![3.2 We do not have to ‘embrace the future’ & we can turn back the tide
It must be the sheer magnitude of [artificial neural networks’] incompetence that makes
them so popular.
Jerry A. Fodor (2000, p. 47)
Related to the rejection of expertise is the rejection of imagining a better future and the rejection
of self-determination free from industry forces (Hajer and Oomen 2025; Stengers 2018; van Rossum
2025). Not only AI enthusiasts, but even some scholars whose expertise concentrates on identifying
and critically interrogating ideologies and sociotechnical relationships — such as historians and gender scholars — unfortunately fall prey to the teleological belief that AI is an unstoppable force. They
embrace it because alternative responses seem too difficult, incompatible with industry developments,
or non-existent. Instead of falling for this, we should “refuse [AI] adoption in schools and colleges,
and reject the narrative of its inevitability.” (Reynoldson et al. 2025, n.p., also Benjamin 2016; Campolo and Crawford 2020; CDH Team and Ruddick 2025; Garcia et al. 2022; Kelly et al. 2025; Lysen
and Wyatt 2024; Sano-Franchini et al. 2024; Stengers 2018). Such rejection is possible and has historical precedent, to name just a few successful examples: Amsterdammers kicked out cars, rejecting
that cycling through the Dutch capital should be deadly. Organised workers died for the eight-hour
workday, the weekend and other workers’ rights, and governments banned chlorofluorocarbons from
fridges to mitigate ozone depletion in the atmosphere. And we know that even the tide itself famously
turns back. People can undo things; and we will (cf. Albanese 2025; Boztas 2025; Kohnstamm Instituut 2025; van Laarhoven and van Vugt 2025). Besides, there will be no future to embrace if we deskill
our students and selves, and allow the technology industry’s immense contributions to climate crisis](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreidzio5vcvzus3xjqxcpav64pwk2gwslwslogabl7b5dzhn6egf37i@jpeg)
September 6, 2025 at 8:24 AM
2. the strange but often repeated cultish mantra that we need to "embrace the future" — this is so bizarre given, e.g. how destructive industry forces have proven to be in science, from petroleum to tobacco to pharmaceutical companies.
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
are you mad about NEPA, the federal law governing federal projects, or are you mad about local zoning and permitting rules that constitutionally cannot be changed through national legislation is a question I wish more people asked themselves
September 4, 2025 at 5:16 PM
are you mad about NEPA, the federal law governing federal projects, or are you mad about local zoning and permitting rules that constitutionally cannot be changed through national legislation is a question I wish more people asked themselves